A Doggy for Christmas
by Teddylonglong
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Eight-year-old Harry Potter decides to take destiny into his own hands. Completely AU! Set before Hogwarts, just a little Christmas story for my readers.


**A Doggy for Christmas**  
 **by Healer Pomfrey**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

 **COMPLETELY AU!**

* * *

Eight-year-old Harry Potter trailed behind his relatives through the streets of London. Originally, the Dursleys had wanted to leave him at home, however, the idea of having a slave to carry their Christmas shopping had been so enticing that they had brought him along. Harry tiredly carried about six large bags to another department store, when his aunt suddenly turned to him and motioned him to wait outside.

"Dudley's going to meet Santa here, so you'll better stay away. Wait here," she instructed him, while Dudley made a grimace towards Harry.

"The freak's not going to meet Santa," he began to sing in repetition, and Harry sighed in relief, when his relatives finally passed the huge entrance doors and he could not hear his cousin anymore.

Harry shyly stood at the edge of the pavement, and many people passed him in apparent excitement for the upcoming Christmas holidays. Harry only half-heartedly took notice of them. However, all of a sudden, a family passed in front of him that caught his attention.

"Mummy, do you think Father Christmas will bring me a doggy?" a girl of about five or six asked in a bright voice, causing Harry to look up with interest, only to realise that the adults as well as their two daughters were wearing strange clothes. It was the same kind of clothes that he had seen people wear before, and these people had sometimes greeted him as if they knew him.

The family, however, took no notice of him, as they seemed to be preoccupied in their discussion if Father Christmas would bring living animals to people.

 _'They seem very nice,'_ Harry thought as he observed the parents' interactions with their daughters. Suddenly, a strange idea crossed his mind. In fact, a few months ago, he had accidentally changed into a small dog while running away from Dudley and his gang. He did not know how he had managed to become a dog, however, ever since then, he had been able to change back and forth according to his own free will.

 _'I could change into a dog and become the girl's dog,'_ he thought. _'It can't be worse than being the Dursleys' slave.'_

He instantly decided to follow his idea and hurried into the direction, into which the family had gone, leaving the Dursleys' shopping bags behind. While running with the crowd, he unobtrusively changed into his dog form and ran ahead, only to stop running just a couple of feet in front of the nice family.

"Look! A doggy," the smaller of the two sisters shouted in clear excitement and leaned down to gently pet his fur.

Harry eagerly licked the kind hand that petted him, turning large green eyes to view the girl's face. _'I want to become that girl's dog,'_ he thought, frantically.

"Hello doggy," the little girl said in a soft voice. "I so wish to have a doggy. Will you come with me and become my familiar?"

=Yes,= Harry replied in an eagerly friendly voice, causing the girl to become even more excited.

"Did you hear him?" she blurted out in apparent delight. "He can speak."

"He just barked," her older sister corrected her.

"No, he said yes," the girl insisted. "Mummy, Daddy, may I please take him with me?"

"He must be a magical dog then," the father said, thoughtfully. "But if so, he surely belongs to someone."

"Do you belong to someone?" the little girl asked, giving Harry a sharp look.

=No,= Harry assured her and added, =My family hates me.=

The girl translated for her parents, who finally agreed to take Harry with them.

 _'They're freaks like myself,'_ Harry noticed very quickly, when the girls' father suddenly grabbed a chain for him out of thin air.

"What's your name?" the girl suddenly asked, while they continued walking with the girl leading Harry on his chain.

=Harry,= Harry replied, without even considering the matter. _'I hope they won't find out that I'm human and ran away from my relatives,'_ he thought, as he obediently walked beside the girl. Only now the idea that he should have told the girl a different name popped up in his mind, however, it was too late.

"All right Harry. I like that name," the girl decided, looking at him in clear happiness.

Harry equally happily waggled his tail.

メリークリスマス

Adrian Greengrass carefully took the small dog into his arm, before he stepped into the fireplace to travel home, his daughter Astoria firmly grabbing his left hand.

 _'Something about this dog seems familiar,'_ he thought, however, he could not point what it was and then dismissed the idea, knowing that he had barely met any magical dogs before.

Arriving at home, he conjured a dog bed next to the sofa in the living room as well as a couple of bowls for food and water for the dog in the kitchen. "Lina," he then summoned the family's house elf and instructed her to buy a small variety of dog food.

"Harry," he called the dog, glad that the canine obediently came over to the kitchen, so that he could show him where to find food and water. The dog stood on his back feet and happily licked his hands, clearly to show his gratefulness.

 _'He seems to be well educated,'_ he thought, contentedly, before he instructed his daughters to take the dog into the garden whenever they realised that their new family member had to release himself.

"Samantha, can you make an appointment with the vet during the week?" he then asked his wife. "He should get a check-over and maybe some necessary vaccinations. I don't know if and when he needs to get castrated."

"I'll try to get an appointment before Christmas," his wife promised, smiling. "The vet might already be on holidays though," she added as an afterthought.

メリークリスマス

Harry learned quickly that his girl was Astoria and her older sister Daphne. _'If Astoria is six and Daphne two years older, she must be eight like me,'_ Harry thought, feeling happier than he could recall having ever been in his life.

It was only a week until Christmas, and while the Dursleys had used to lock him into his cupboard over the holidays and would not allow him as much as a glance at the Christmas tree, here, he was allowed to roam the house like he wanted. Usually, he spent his time where Astoria was. When she was playing with her sister in the living room, he slept next to her on the sofa. When the girls were playing in the garden, where it just had begun to snow, he happily ran around the garden, having much fun.

To Harry's surprise, Astoria and Daphne did not go to primary school. Instead, the mother was teaching her daughters every morning, and to Harry's delight, he was allowed to sit by and listen to their lessons. The girls did not only learn similar things to what he had studied at primary school, they were also taught easy spells and charms as well as knowledge about the magical world, which Harry found especially interesting.

"Only three more days of classes, and then we have Christmas holidays," Astoria said to Harry in clear excitement. "I can't wait for Christmas to come."

"And why's that?" Daphne spoke up, smirking. "You already got what you wanted most for Christmas, a dog."

"Yeah, that's true," Astoria shouted, happily, and lifted Harry into her arms to hug him tightly.

 _'Thank God they don't expect me to stay in the bed that the father made for me,'_ he thought one evening, happily cuddling between Astoria and Daphne on the sofa. Even at night, nobody locked him in anywhere. When he had obediently lain down in his bed on the first evening, Astoria had come downstairs and invited him to join her in her room. Harry had gladly obeyed, and ever since then, it had become a habit for him to jump into Astoria's bed, as soon as her mother had tucked her in and left, where he slept cuddled against her back or stomach.

 _'I've never been able to sleep so comfortably,'_ he thought, happily.

メリークリスマス

 _'I know what's so familiar with that dog,'_ Adrian realised one day. _'He has Lily's green eyes.'_ Adrian had been good friends with Lily and James Potter. He unobtrusively observed the dog, knowing that both Lily and James had been Animagi. _'Could he possibly be Harry Potter in his Animagus form?'_ he wondered, however, quickly dismissed the idea upon seeing Harry play with his daughters. Apparently, Harry had taken a great liking to Astoria's teddy bear, and the girls had much fun with the dog trying to take the teddy off him, while the dog was jumping again and again to get the teddy back. If he succeeded, he took to gently licking his face.

 _'At least he's very careful,'_ he thought in amusement, _'and if he wasn't a real dog, he wouldn't be able to so perfectly behave like one.'_

Nevertheless, Adrian could not shake off a somehow strange feeling. However, he neither shared it with his wife nor with his daughters and just took to closely observing the dog.

It was on the day before Christmas Eve, when Samanatha and the girls were eagerly decorating the Christmas tree - with Harry's help, who was eagerly running around between their feet, that Adrian decided to make some enquiries.

メリークリスマス

Harry could not believe how lucky he was. _'I get to help decorating the Christmas tree,'_ he realised in awe. _'How cool is that?'_ He happily ran around the tree looking at the colourful baubles, which the girls and their mother added to the tree.

=These are pretty,= he told Astoria, pointing his nose to a box with dark green baubles.

"All right my little helper," she replied, grinning, and began decorating the tree with the green baubles of his choice, making Harry feel very happy.

メリークリスマス

 _'I'll go to Gringotts and ask where to find Harry Potter,'_ he thought. _'Even if Dumbledore forbade everyone to contact him, I don't care. He's my best friends' only son. I need to see him in order to not think of him when I see our Harry.'_

He strode through the crowded shopping street, sighing in relief when he reached Gringotts.

He pondered if he should ask for the Potters' account manager, however, dismissed the idea. _'If he doesn't know me, he won't tell me anything,'_ he thought. "I'd like to speak with Buckbean," he told one of the goblins, asking for his own account manager.

Knowing Buckbean well enough to completely trust him, he told him the truth about the dog and his vague idea that he was unable to shake off.

"You're lucky, Mr. Greengrass," Buckbean said, smiling. "I am also the Potters' account manager. Please allow me to fetch the Potters' file."

An instant later, the goblin returned with a thick folder.

"Harry Potter is betrothed to your daughter Astoria," Buckbean informed him, glancing at the top entry on the first parchment.

"What?" Adrian blurted out in disbelief. "Oh well, that means that he is the dog and that he, willingly or unwillingly, has bonded with my daughter."

Buckbean chuckled. "The boy must be very powerful to bond in a way that it's recognised as a betrothal," he replied in clear amusement. "I don't think that it was intentional though."

"Surely not," Adrian agreed, trying to not get upset at the boy. "He probably merely wanted to bond with Astoria in order to be able to communicate with her. Oh well, if he is as well behaved as a boy like he is as a dog, I believe that Astoria can deem herself very lucky," he said, pensively, still a bit shocked at the sudden revelation. However, he knew that a betrothal to the Potter heir was about the best that could have happened to either of his daughters.

"Buckbean," he spoke up in determination, "who is Harry's guardian, and are you able to divert the guardianship to me?"

"Dumbledore is his guardian, and he completely ignored the Potters' will," Buckbean informed him, only to add, "As you know, we goblins usually don't interfere with matters of the human magical world. However, I can change the guardianship without alerting anyone if you wish, especially since you are one of the families mentioned in the Potters' will as possible guardians."

"Yes please," Adrian decided and, after a glance at the Potters' will, which Buckbean showed him in his position as Harry's new guardian, decided to make Amelia Bones and Augusta Longbottom the boy's godmothers. "I will tell Amelia and Augusta," he informed Buckbean. "My wife and I are quite close to both families."

メリークリスマス

In the morning of Christmas Eve, Harry was rudely awaken, as Astoria climbed out of bed very early. Usually, she was very careful to not kick Harry, however, on this morning, she seemed to be extremely excited.

"Harry, we're going to go to Diagon Alley to look at the Christmas decorations and buy some last minute presents," she told him, while she hurried to get dressed and all ready to go.

"I'm not sure if it'll be much fun for Harry running around Diagon Alley today," Adrian said to his excited daughter at the breakfast table.

Harry, who was sitting on the floor in front of his own breakfast, looked up in disappointment. _'I always want to go with them,'_ he thought, longingly.

"We won't be long anyway," Samantha threw in, apparently agreeing with her husband.

"Harry," Adrian addressed the dog, "how about we remain here together? Usually, I don't get much to talk with you. Let's have some boy time without the girls," he added, chuckling.

Harry waggled his tail, even if he felt slightly disappointed. _'Oh well, it's nice of the father to stay here with me though,'_ he thought, feeling very much relieved at the kind gesture.

=All right,= he said, making Astoria translate for her parents.

メリークリスマス

To Harry's surprise, Adrian led him into his office, which was the only room in the whole house where Harry had never been before.

"Harry," Adrian began to speak, as soon as he had lowered himself into the chair behind his desk. "First of all, I want you to know that we're all very happy to have you here and that you now belong to our family. Everything is all right..."

 _'Weird, why does he say such things?'_ Harry wondered with a strange feeling of foreboding. _'I just hope he won't send me away.'_

"... but I'd like to ask you some questions. Therefore, I believe that it would be better if you transformed into your human form. Don't worry about anything," Adrian continued, giving the dog an expectant look.

 _'Oh no,'_ Harry thought in complete shock. _'How did they find out?'_ Before he decided what to do, Adrian spoke again.

"Harry, please change back just for a few minutes. Afterwards, you may change back into your dog form right away," he said in a soothing voice.

Hesitantly, Harry morphed back into his human form, feeling very self-conscious in his much too large Muggle clothes.

Adrian nodded, contentedly, motioning the boy to take a seat.

"Harry, as far as I know, you were living with your relatives," he began to speak and, seeing Harry give him a shy nod, asked, "Why did you run away from them?"

"They hate me because I'm a freak," Harry replied in a barely audible voice, giving the father an anxious look.

"Because you're a wizard," Adrian corrected him, gently. Apparently noticing Harry's unsure expression, he assured him, "You're a wizard just like me and just like Daphne, Astoria and my wife are witches. Your parents were magical, too, and I was good friends with them."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "You knew my parents, sir?" he asked in excitement.

"Yes, and as I said, we were good friends," Adrian repeated. "Therefore, I am very happy that you came into my family, and yesterday morning, I went to get the guardianship over you. You never have to return to your relatives."

"Thank you so much," Harry replied, feeling very much reassured at the father's kind words. "Does Astoria know?" he then asked, hesitantly.

Adrian shook his head. "Only my wife knows, and if you wish, you can remain in hiding for a little while. However, eventually, we have to inform them, however, I leave it to you, when and how you wish to tell them," he said, kindly. "I must only insist that you attend their classes together with them. Samantha is home schooling them until they go to Hogwarts at the age of eleven, like you will," he added as an afterthought.

 _'No one was kind to me, before I became a dog,'_ Harry thought. _'On the other hand, the father, whatever I'm supposed to call him, is very nice even now when I'm not a dog.'_

"Astoria will be very disappointed," he said in a small voice. "She wanted a dog."

Adrian chuckled. "I don't think she'll mind having a big brother who's able to transform into a dog though," he replied, deciding to keep the matter with the betrothal to himself for the time being. "As I said, you may do as you wish, however, if I was you, I'd prefer Christmas dinner made by our house elf to dog food, and sitting at the table together with everyone else is surely nicer than having to eat from your bowl on the floor," he added, grinning.

"If you wish to change into your human form, we're going to change our guest room into a room for you," Adrian continued. "It's the room right next to Astoria's."

"Thank you very much, sir," Harry replied, gratefully. "So far, I lived in the cupboard under the stairs," he admitted, quietly, "and I was never allowed to eat at the table with the Dursleys. I used to have to cook for them for Christmas, and then they locked me into my cupboard over the holidays."

Adrian smiled. "Harry, this will be completely different here. That I promise you."

They finished their conversation, and Harry changed back into his dog form right before the three ladies returned from Diagon Alley.

メリークリスマス

Christmas morning was very exciting. Like on the previous day, Astoria woke up Harry very early. She ushered him downstairs into the living room, shouting something about Christmas presents.

Knowing that he wouldn't get presents anyway, Harry made himself comfortable next to Samantha on the sofa and observed Daphne and Astoria open their presents with interest.

However, all of a sudden, Astoria held out a present for him. It was a teddy, similar to her own, to which he had taken such a liking.

=Is that for me?= he asked, incredulously.

"Of course," Astoria assured him, grinning happily.

=Thank you so much,= Harry replied, excitedly waggling his tail. _'My first Christmas present ever,'_ he thought, as he explored his new toy with his front paws and mouth.

Suddenly, an idea pressed itself to the forefront of his mind. _'I ought to tell them,'_ he thought. _'They're so nice to me, and I just can't continue lying to them, especially since I know that I can stay with them even in my human form.'_

He looked at Astoria, who was just doing a happy dance over a Christmas present. =Can you please ask your Dad to tell you he knows what?=

"What?" Astoria asked, incredulously, however, translated for her father. "Harry said you should please tell me you know what."

Adrian cast Harry a sharp look. "Harry, are you really sure?" he asked, gently.

Harry nodded his head, waggling his tail at the same time.

"Very well then, Astoria and Daphne, can you please sit down for a minute?" he then spoke up. "I need to tell you something."

When everyone complied, he explained, "Harry is not a real dog, but an Animagus."

"What?" Astoria blurted out in clear shock.

"Who are you then?" Daphne added, giving Harry a curious look.

Adrian grinned. "Harry is Harry Potter," he explained, causing both girls to stare at their supposed-to-be pet in awe.

"Harry Potter," Astoria repeated in disbelief. "Harry, is that true?"

=Yes, I'm sorry for lying to you,= Harry replied, uncertainly licking his left front paw.

"That's fine," Astoria replied, pulling him in her usual bear's hug. "Why don't you change back, so we can go flying together after opening our presents?"

=I'd like that,= Harry replied, having watched the girls fly on their brooms a few times. He jumped down onto the floor and stepped aside, before he transformed back into his human form. "Hi," he said, shyly.

"Hello Harry, we're very happy to have you here in either form," Samantha was the first to greet him. She stepped over to him and gently hugged him, before her daughters followed her example.

Adrian stood there, grinning, and when his three girls finally released his new son, he pointed his wand at the boy to transfigure his much too large hand-me-downs into proper clothes, making Harry shoot him a grateful look.

"I'm sorry Astoria, I know you wanted a dog for Christmas," Harry once again apologized.

Astoria grinned. "That's fine, Harry. A dog would be great, but a big brother has been my number one wish since I can remember. If I want to play with a dog, you can always change back for me," she added, smirking.

"I'll do that," Harry promised, feeling extremely happy to have gained such a nice family. _'That's my very best Christmas,'_ he thought, contentedly.

 **The End**

 **Merry Christmas!**


End file.
